Dear Colleagues,

Over recent decades, technology has evolved in the professional sporting environment with ever more acceptance that meticulous attention to detail can make the difference between winning and losing. Athletic performance can also translate into many other areas where optimal human performance is not only a fundamental requirement but also a necessity. Aerospace, military, aircraft, medical, and many more personnel all need to be at peak physical and mental performance to ensure optimal results. Technology which can constantly monitor the biology of an individual in such extremely taxing situations will ensure that errors are limited, making a vital difference in the ever-advancing world. However, monitoring complex biomarkers provide a difficult challenge, often requiring invasive procedures in a clinical setting. For example, despite many efforts and continual advances in technology and research, there still isn’t an accurate, cost effective and valid method to detect skeletal muscle glycogen (i.e. an indicator of energy utilisation), blood lactate (i.e. indicator of metabolic adaptation to exercise), or hydration status, non-invasively and continuously during exercise. As such, the purpose of this special edition is to emphasise on the need for new ways of collecting and assessing biological variables (including but not limited to muscle glycogen, blood lactate, markers of hydration) during exercise and provide new directions for future research. As a matter of priority, the focus should be brought on non-invasive and real-time techniques, which could be utilised on a daily basis without altering the activity.

Dr. Julien Louis
Guest Editor

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• human biological markers
• exercise
• sport
• sensors
• glycogen
• lactate
• hydration